NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #18/NN_1992_18.iso/spool/comp/sys/ibm/pc/digest/153

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Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest
Subject: Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #132
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Date: 10 Aug 92 18:52:02 GMT
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Info-IBMPC Digest           Mon, 10 Aug 92       Volume 92 : Issue 132

Today's Editor:
         Gregory Hicks - Rota Spain <[e-mail]>

Today's Topics:
                        $25 Network, PC Terminal
             386 BSD FTP SITE LIST - Free Unix for 386/486
                          bar code interfacing
                      Downloading/FTP problems...
                     downloading software (2 msgs)
                             FOXPRO ver 2.0
                                 ftping
                                graphics
                    HD problem - what have i missed?
                     Help with ISA BUS Card Design
                         How to: Fast OS/2 2.0
                     How to control num-lock status
                      Seagate drive won't spin up
                  Serial mouse connections for IBM/AT
                        Windows 3.1 with 2MB RAM
                Experiences with Advanced 486/33 wanted
               Pascal Sources for Epson Escape Sequences
             Downloading from FTP Sites with VAX and Kermit

Send Replies or notes for publication to: <[e-mail]>

Send requests of an administrative nature (addition to, deletion from
the distribution list, et al) to: <[e-mail]>

Addition and Deletion requests for UK readers should be sent to:
<[e-mail]>

Archives of past issues of the Info-IBMPC Digest are available by FTP
ONLY from WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL in directory PD2:<ARCHIVES.IBMPC>.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 15:46:38 EST
From: jeff lewis <[e-mail]>
Subject: $25 Network, PC Terminal

Does anyone know anything about the $25 network (or any other PD
networks) around?  Are they any good for a 'cheap alternative'.  Where
can I locate them (FTP)?

What about something that allows a standard terminal to be connected to
the serial port and act as a terminal or 'the same' computer system?

Any ideas?
Thanks....
Jeff Lewis

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1992 15:10:50 CDT
From: David J Camp <[e-mail]>
Subject: 386 BSD FTP SITE LIST Free Unix for 386/486

Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 16:42:39 EDT
Resent-From: [e-mail]

      [ I've appended a list of ftp sites after the article Randy
forwarded.  See newsgroup comp.unix.bsd for more information.

    See newsgroup alt.os.linux for information on another freely
redistributable Unix, Linux, for 386s.

    enjoy -len]

> From: [e-mail] (Chris Demetriou)
> Subject: 386BSD release 0.0 available for anon ftp
>
> 386BSD release 0.0 is available for anon ftp from

> agate.berkeley.edu
> 128.32.136.1

> in the directory
> pub/386BSD
>
> If you don't know what 386BSD is:
>
> 386BSD is BSD UNIX for the 386 and 486 IBMs and clones.
>
> It was done by William Jolitz, and based on the BSD Net2 release.
> (Bill Jolitz is the person who wrote most of the 386/486 code that will
> be in BSD 4.4).
>
> This is currently release 0.0 -- it's an early alpha, but it's unix --
> BSD UNIX  -- nonetheless.
>
> It is completely free of AT&T code, and is available in source and
> binary forms, as well as diffs from Net2.
>
> ***THIS IS A BOOTABLE SYSTEM***
>
> see the READMEs in the distribution for more information.
>
> Feel free to distribute this notice as widely as possible.
> Also, if there are other sites which would like to become distribution
> points, please contact me.  I've a feeling there's going to be a large
> demand for this, in the time to come... 8-)
>
> Chris Demetriou
> [e-mail]
> 386BSD ftp archive maintainer, and someone who really wants to see
> this 'work'

From: [e-mail] (Shannon D. Appel)
Date: 16 Mar 92 02:58:08

This is a compilation of the list of all of the sites that have
announced that they have 386BSD available:

AUSTRALIA:
ftp.ee.mu.OZ.AU            128.250.1.80        /pub/386bsd
kirk.bu.oz.au            131.244.1.1        /pub/386bsd

EUROPE:
ftp.stacken.kth.se        130.237.237.3        /pub/OS/386bsd
nic.funet.fi            128.214.6.100    /pub/unix/4.3bsd/i386-jolitz
rusmv1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de    129.69.1.12        /soft/unix/bsd386

NORTH AMERICA:
agate.berkeley.edu        128.32.136.1        /pub/386BSD
dsuvax.dsu.edu            138.247.32.2        /pub/OS
gatekeeper.dec.com        16.1.0.2        /pub/micro/386BSD

Agate has the release 0.0new available now, according to Chris.
However, it will probably be available on most other machines within a
day.  Net connections all over the world will thank you (as will as
agate) if you wait a day, and then FTP from the machine closest to you,
on the list above.

It's also good to FTP during off hours at the site you are connecting
to (ie between 6pm and 6am).  On many sites, you can find the time of
day on the local machine by typing:

telnet joe-machine daytime

If anyone finds any incorrect entries in this list, let me know, and
I'll post a fixed version, so that everyone can know where to get
386BSD from.

Shannon

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 19:39:09 SAT
From: zaki <[e-mail]>
Subject: bar code interfacing

       Is there anybody know how to interface bar code scanners with
IBM-PC machine.

          Please send me any information that you know.

zaki.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 15:43:00 CDT
From: Junior <[e-mail]>
Subject: Downloading/FTP problems...


>Michael ([e-mail]) suggests that I simply issue SET FILE TYPE BINARY
>before sending through KERMIT.  I have tried this with no success.

>        I usually only login to the site and then issue a GET command.
>                e.g. GET PD1:<msdos.screen>blankop.zip
>        I then quit.

There's your problem right there.  You have to SET FILE TYPE BINARY in
kermit, but you also have to issue the 'binary' command before you
retrieve the file from the FTP site.  You are transferring the ZIP file
in 'ascii' mode.

I mailed you directly giving the same advice, but you must not have
gotten my message (yet).  Good luck, and mail me if you have any
problems.

| Daryl Spillman        |   BitNet:  [e-mail] |    .......    |
| Junior Programmer     | InterNet:  [e-mail]   |    :  o/ :    |
| Computing Services    |  TalkNet:  [phone]           |    : <|  :    |
| Southeastern LA Univ. |  SlowNet:  Box 409 - SLU Station    |    : / > :    |
|                       |            Hammond, LA 70402        |    :.....:    |

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 10:04:00 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: downloading software

I am having trouble downloading software from FTP sites...

I am using a VAX/VMS system and KERMIT to transfer the received file
from my VAX account to my hard disk.  This part of it is successful.

ASCII/text files transfer with no problem, but when I go to unzip
program files, I usually get a PKZIP error message that the zipped file
is corrupt.

I assume that trouble here is with transferring binary data and getting
it into the right format before I transfer it and try to decompress it.

I have fooled around with the analyze, convert, etc. VAX commands with
no luck.

This is a very basic principle I am sure, and hope this is not a waste
of space.  A thousand thanks in advance for any suggestions...

Walter Jones
-at Eastern Virginia Medical School
    Norfolk, Virginia
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 11:40:00 EDT
From: Peter Salama <[e-mail]>
Subject: downloading software

       Try to set the file type as binary before you ask the other side
to send it.

                                 Peter Salama

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 15:50:38 SAT
From: zaki <[e-mail]>
Subject: FOXPRO ver 2.0

        I want to learn FOXPRO 2.0 which book, do you think, is good
for me.

zaki.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 22:30:00 +0100
From: Perry Rovers <[e-mail]>
Subject: ftping


Hi,

>     I usually only login to the site and then issue a GET command.
>             e.g. GET PD1:<msdos.screen>blankop.zip
>     I then quit.
I use a VAX/VMS system and use in your case:

      ftp wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (or something like that)
      bin
      get pd1:<msdos.screen>blankop.zip
      bye

then I get the file from my vax account with ftp between PC and VAX.
In the kermit case SET FILE TYPE BINARY and RECEIVE blankop.zip should
be sufficient I suppose.

Hope this helps,
Perry

P.S. try wuarchive.wustl.edu as a sitename.. it has a directory called
mirrors2 where they have a backup of the simtel20 site I find this site
much easier to use than the simtel site because the directory structure
is somewhat cleared.. no PD1: stuff.. just directories..

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 13:06:49 SAT
From: "zaki m. a." <[e-mail]>
Subject: graphics

        I want to print a graphic picture in epson dot matrix 24 pins.
what is the procedures & functions in PASCAL language to do that.

------------------------------

Date: 29 Jul 92 12:04:29 GMT
From: Bob Jernigan <[e-mail]>
Subject: HD problem - what have i missed?
Keywords: Maxtor

I have a system with a Maxtor 7120 HD.  The problem I have is that the
system only seems to recognize 43MB.  IDEINFO reports 2995 cyl., 5
heads, 17 sec. for 124 MB.  The system has AMI bios and I set the disk
type to 47 with the above settings and chkdsk only reports 43MB.  The
system was delivered with dos 5.0 and windows installed and the
company(garage operation actually) insists there is 120MB present on
the HD.  How do I get at it?  I have tried:

another IDE controller.
a CONNER HD, 120 MB.

In every combination I can only get 43MB.  FDISK reports no space
avail. for an ext. partition.  On one test, I did manage to fool QAPLUS
into recognizing the 2995 cyl and it passed all tests. (I had QAPLUS
update bios with "no HD", reboot with bios checksum error, use AMI
setup to set HD to 2995 cyl etc., boot from floppy to run tests).

With the different IDE controller and CONNER drive giving me 43MB, I'm
starting to suspect the bios.  The CONNER drive was checked in another
system and has 120MB.

Two different tech have told me that the disk information database
report that the maxtor should have 1024 cyl, 14, heads, 17 sec, which
contradicts IDEINFO.  Can anyone confirm that?

All help greatly appreciated.

Bob Jernigan  301-953-6000  ext 8498.
email:  [e-mail]    or    [e-mail]
or       [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 2:07 BST
From: Anthony Naggs <[e-mail]>
Subject: Help with ISA BUS Card Design

Design info can be obtained from the following references:
1  IBM PC Technical Reference, which gives a short description of
control signals, circuit and dimensions for a "prototype cct board"
with address and data bus buffering.

2  "Interfacing to the IBM Personal Computer" (2nd ed 1990),
   by Lewis C Eggebrecht, published by SAMS, cover price $24.95
US/$31.95 CAN (cost me 22.95 pounds UK) Gives a summary of most IBM
models, standard interface ports & lots of stuff relevant to designing
memory or I/O cards, including signals during DMA accesses (also some
details of MCA bus signals/design) - RECOMMENDED!

3  Relevant data sheets/book from Intel for the CPU & bus chips in your
system (or the supplier of integrated components, such as Chips &
Technologies) - these can give you the detail to ensure your design
works with faster CPU/bus clock rates (also check your motherboard, it
may have jumpers for selecting the bus speed).

In the US I think prototyping boards are fairly easy to find, I picked
a nice one up in a Radio Shack in New York in March.  It had short
tracks across the width interrupted by several GND & 5V rails going
from end to end.  Ideal for most circuits consisting of dual in line
ICs.

In the UK cheapish fibreglass boards can be purchased in Maplin stores,
but you have to sort out the power rails yourself.  The board is just a
sea of pads requiring wire-wrap or similar wiring techniques for all
connections.  Vero produce some excellent, though expensive boards, for
PC, AT (ISA) & MCA busses (I haven't seen any EISA ones).  Some include
an area for standard data and address bus buffering, MCA interface
chips or a sea of pads for PGA or PLCC sockets.  A subset are available
through trade catalogues such as: Verospeed, RS Components or Farnell.

Regards, Anthony Naggs

Internet:   [e-mail]  or    [e-mail]
Janet:      [e-mail]  or    [e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 08:31:09 EDT
From: Jay Troy <dvss![e-mail]>
Subject: How to: Fast OS/2 2.0

I've been reading the last couple of issues and I've noticed a lot of
postings about people being disappointed with OS/2 2.0 performance.
This is a quick note to detail a couple of pointers so that people can
get better performance out of a great system and be happy with it.

My machine is a basic 386/25 clone (AMI BIOS/8M RAM/Adaptec
1542B/212M).  With this machine, I typically have 8-12 applications
running simultaneously, and I get decent performance.  If several of
the applications are heavy I/O processes or several windows are
starting simultaneously, I notice some slow down.  Other than that,
things are fine.

I would like to first give a couple of tips for boosting performance,
then address the issue of OS/2 vs Windows application performance.

---Boosting OS/2 performance---
There are 2 basic tricks for fast OS/2 2.0 performance:

1) Use HPFS (High Performance File System) exclusively

  The HPFS that comes with OS/2 2.0 is a robust file system much like
that found in any larger computer system (VAX/VMS, Unix, etc).  There
are filters included with OS/2 that allow the HPFS to be accessed like
the old DOS FAT file system.  This means that all of your DOS
applications will run just fine with the HPFS.  Of course, since the
file system is more robust, you will have to shutdown OS/2 in an
orderly fashion (you can't just hit the switch like you can with DOS).
If the system crashes (or you hit the power switch without an orderly
shutdown), the file system will rebuild itself when the machine is
booted next (a good thing to try to avoid).

2) Have enough RAM

  IBM recommends 4M as the minimum RAM configuration and 8M if you
choose to use HPFS.  I recommend 8M or more as the minimum RAM
configuration.  OS/2 2.0 uses a demand paging virtual memory scheme.
This method of memory usage requires a lot of RAM.  The more physical
RAM that's available, the less the system needs to swap, and the
greater your performance.

---OS/2 vs Windows application speed---
In the press, including IBM PC digest, there are a lot of claims that
OS/2 2.0 is "much slower" in starting MS Windows applications.  This is
really an unfair assessment.  In OS/2 2.0, when you click on a Windows
application to start it, it first creates a VDM (virtual DOS machine)
box, then it loads DOS on that box, after DOS is started, it starts MS
Windows, and after Windows is loaded, it starts the application.  Under
Windows, the same request to start an application simply starts the
applications because DOS and Windows have already been loaded and
started.  Of course the startup time should be less for Windows if you
compare the two this way.

How do you make OS/2 faster for starting Windows applications?  That's
simple.  With OS/2 2.0's "seamless" windows support, all of the Windows
applications started as "seamless" windows will run in the same VDM.
So, the trick is to make the seamless windows VDM start at boot time
instead of while you're waiting for it and pressed for time.  To
accomplish this, all you need to do is put a shadow of the MS Windows
clock application into your OS/2 2.0 "Startup" folder.  When the system
is started, OS/2 will be initialized and the things in the "Startup"
folder will start.  As the clock is started, a DOS VDM (the windows
seamless VDM) will be started, then Windows, then the clock
application.  The next time a seamless application is started, it will
be started on the same VDM as the clock and significantly trim the
startup time.

If you haven't given OS/2 a look because of all of the bad press, you
are missing out.  If you've tried it and didn't like it in the past,
try it again with the above suggestions.  I think you'll have a change
of heart.

 Jay Troy        Delaware Valley Solution Systems, Inc.
                 Computing Solutions for Business and Industry
                 P.O. Box 190 // Claymont, DE 19703 // (302)798-DVSS
                 Internet: ...!udel.edu!dvss!jtroy ([e-mail])

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 11:12 GMT
From: "G.MULVENNA" <[e-mail]>
Subject: How to control num-lock status

As far as I can work out, the status of NumLock can only be *read* by
the BIOS interrupt routine 0x16 supplied with the appropriate service
argument for ascertaining shift key status.

Does anyone know how one could go about setting the NumLock status from
software?

Thanks in advance.
Gerry Mulvenna ([e-mail])
Belfast, Ireland

Voice: [phone] ext. 2842
Fax:   [phone]

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 31 Jul 92 10:08:35 -0400
From: "William W. Plummer" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Seagate drive won't spin up

Sometimes my ST296N fails to spin up at power on.  Seagate claims they
have never heard of this problem before, but I seem to recall net mail
awhile back that mentioned it.  Is there a cure?  Thanks.  --Bill

William W. Plummer    [e-mail]        617-224-6277
FTP Software, Inc.    26 Princess Street    Wakefield, MA  01880

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 13:24:00 LCL
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Serial mouse connections for IBM/AT

       if there is someone who knows the mouse-serial interface
connnections, used in the IBM compatibles, please let me know. I'm
interesting in "hooking up" my old ATARI ST mouse in the serial port of
an IBM AT.  Any kind of technical aid will be welcome.

                                                   Bye.
                                           Sawwas C. Chatzisawwas
                                           University of Thessaloniki
                                           Macedonia, GREECE

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 09:33:11 EDT
From: Wally Veale <[e-mail]>
Subject: Windows 3.1 with 2MB RAM

      University of Georgia  Student Information Systems
      Phone [phone]

FYI: PC World, December 1991, p.41, Help Screen

>Q.  I have a 386 with 2Mb of RAM. I use mostly Windows apps, but I also
>multitalk DOS programs. What CONFIG.SYS entries will make the best use
>of my extended memory? I'm currently using HIMEM.SYS, SMARTDRV.SYS, and
>MOUSE.SYS and find I don't always have enough memory for my DOS
>applications.

A.  With 2Mb total RAM, you've got at most 1408K of extended memory.
With that little memory, you're better off not allocating any to a disk
cache. So delete SMARTDRV.SYS from your CONFIG.SYS. If you don't use a
mouse in your DOS apps, you can also delete the MOUSE.SYS.

You'll get the most memory for your DOS apps by stripping your
CONFIG.SYS down to the bare minimum. Microsoft recommends the following
minimal CONFIG.SYS for a 2Mb _Windows_ system:

     DEVICE=C:\HIMEM.SYS
     DOS=HIGH (DOS 5.0 only)
     FILES=60
     BUFFERS=30

When you install more memory and start using more device drivers and
memory-resident programs, you'll also want to invest in a memory
manager such as QEMM or Qualitas's 386MAX. It will help you use your
system's memory efficiently and give your DOS apps the most memory
possible.

**************************************
*  PROFS ID: WVEALE     NODE ID: UGA *
**************************************

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 16:19:44 GMT
From: Cobalto IV <[e-mail]>
Subject: Experiences with Advanced 486/33 wanted

I would like to know if anyone had any experience with the Advanced
486/33 (or 386) Notebook. Found it on Compuserve at PCA (PC Catalog).

Tanks in advance

   Ivo Antao

  [e-mail]  (Bitnet)
  [100021,2656]           (CompuServe)

  Phone: [phone]

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 13:26:46 HOE
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Pascal Sources for Epson Escape Sequences

I thing this is a solution:

You insert in your Pascal source code calls write(....) and/or
writeln(...) using Epson Escapes Sequences.You must consult your Epson
Printer Handbook.  Bye.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 13:53:00 EDT
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Downloading from FTP Sites with VAX and Kermit

Thanks for the responses so far on downloading from FTP sites using VAX
and KERMIT.

Michael ([e-mail]) suggests that I simply issue SET FILE TYPE
BINARY before sending through KERMIT.  I have tried this with no
success.

I am beginning to think that I need to tell the FTP site more.

        I usually only login to the site and then issue a GET command.
                e.g. GET PD1:<msdos.screen>blankop.zip
        I then quit.

Should I be including UUENCODE or TRANSLATE in the GET line??

In KERMIT I was using the SERVER command on the remote end and the GET
command on the local end.

After receiving Michael's message, I issued the SEND command at the
remote and the RECEIVE command at the local.

Unfortunately, same result, zip file is corrupt and suggest PKZIPFIX.
Thanks for all who have responded and in advance for further advice!

------------------------------

End of Info-IBMPC Digest V92 #132
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